The Good Game Podcast

Here is the final half of our great conversation with Sam Barlow of Her Story and Telling Lies fame.

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See you in a bit for Season 2!

It's here - the season finale!

Tobias and I reflect on the first season, ask for your feedback and support, and nerd out about teaching and playing Her Story and the tug of war between player and designer.

Then Sam Barlow, award-winning designer of Her Story (Polygon Game of the Year 2015) and Telling Lies, joins us to discuss how games are art and how they are changing the way we understand stories, playing, and narrative.

He was so generous with his time that we decided to split the interview into two parts. Here's part 1!

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Twitter: @goodgameedu

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Tobias and I discuss when games fit in the classroom and when they might not. We gush about Learning, Games, and Education Volume 3 edited by our guest Dr Kat Schrier (which also includes chapters from Tobias and me, and a few previous guests!)

Dr Kat Schrier goes deep into the possibilities and limits of game and game design to foster empathy.

It's basically a great episode. Enjoy!

This is the esports episode!

Tobias and I discuss new research around the physiology of competitive esports, the “grown up” moment esports had on the international political stage, and more!

Then, we talk with Dr Chris Haskell from Boise State University (the "Alabama of Collegiate Esports") about the community value of esports in school settings, how to build a diverse esports community, and why it matters.

It's the Euro episode! Tobias talked to two game-based learning researchers from his Scandanavian community. They have a great wide-ranging conversation about the strengths and limits of games and learning. Also, GBL withdrawal.

Tobias and I also discuss how play is an integral part of human (and rat!) nature, why letting kids pretend to be online trolls will help them defeat trolls, and The Washington Post's new video game and esports focused unit, Launcher.

It's the Minecraft episode!

Tobias and I discuss how he's a Minecraft hipster and I don't like playing in the sandbox. We also take a look at how Minecraft continues to not only be strong at 10 years old but is actually more popular than ever. In addition, Minecraft Earth might be the next Pokemon Go, and while Minecraft can be the easiest game-based learning vehicle to drive, it might also be the easiest to crash.

Better yet we talk to Minecraft guru and general educational gaming powerhouse Steve Isaacs about Minecraft, game design with students, and Minefaire.

It's the Minecraft episode. Listen to it!

In this episode, Tobias and I discuss a variety of common myths around video games and other new media. Turns out that not only is blaming video games for violence nonsense, it's also a little bit racist.

However, it is our guest, Kelli Dunlap, that does the real mythbusting. She brings her psychological expertise to tell us exactly what the research does and doesn't say about video games and technology. Even better, she does it in a way that anyone can understand.

This is a great episode if you have someone in your life that is stuck in the "video games and smartphones are ruining everything" rut. Spoiler: it's not true.

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twitter: @goodgameedu

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In Episode 2, Tobias and I discuss Norway leading the charge to recognize the value of games, our mixed feelings about Telltale's revival, and Ubisoft's virtual time machine to ancient Greece. Our guest, Greg Toppo, discusses his book "The Game Believes in You" and the changes he's seen in education over the last 10 years. Spoiler: he thinks games have a big role to play in how teachers think about the design of their classrooms

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It’s here! The inaugural episode of The Good Game Podcast! Tobias and I are beyond excited to finally begin sharing the work of the best game-based learning out there.

In the first episode, we discuss where the podcast came from, its goals, and what to look forward to. We also discuss how video games should be considered art (maybe as literature?) and how that impacts teaching games in an ELA setting. We then have a conversation with Paul Darvasi and Aleksander Husoy, two teachers that are at the forefront of teaching games as texts in their classes. Their students even collaborated across the Atlantic to study Gone Home, a video game I would describe as an “interactive short story”.